Passage: Galatians 6:6-10
The Big Idea
After all we’ve learned about grace and legalism, this passage is a kind of final exam for living by the Spirit. Paul now says to do good, taking every opportunity. But not by trying harder. Everything we do happens on two levels, physical and spiritual, and the question is what we’re sowing to: the flesh or the Spirit. Sow to the Spirit, don’t grow weary, and in due season you’ll reap.
A Final Exam
This passage can trip us up, or show how much we’ve learned. It’s a bit like a final exam for living in the Spirit.
- We’ve learned about our freedom from the Law, and our freedom from living for ourselves (license).
- We’ve learned to be spiritual people. Not fakers, not pretenders, not legalists imitating the Law or following a list of rules.
- The big idea has been: it’s not about what you do, but about who you trust while you’re living.
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me (Galatians 2:20).
Now we get a very practical lesson: do good things, and take every opportunity to do them. But before we read it, remember that Paul doesn’t mean “try to do good things.” He means actually do good things, by the Spirit.
Everything we do isn’t merely physical. Some people live only on the physical level of what they see, feel and think. But we live on a physical and a spiritual level, and everything we do happens on both.
The battle in our hearts is still about how we do things: how we give, how we study, how we love, how we serve, how we speak.
Share with Your Teacher (Galatians 6:6)
Let the one who is taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches.
John Stott noted that the right relationship between teacher and taught is koinonia: fellowship, partnership. The word “share” here is the verb form of that same word.
Martin Luther said he used to wonder why the apostles repeated this request so often. But he came to understand: when Satan can’t stop the preaching of the gospel by force, he tries to do it by striking gospel ministers with poverty.
God Is Not Mocked (Galatians 6:7)
Don’t be deceived: God is not mocked. Whatever a person sows, that will he also reap.
This is much deeper than “you get what’s coming to you” or “your sin will find you out.”
Sir Robert Watson-Watt, a key inventor of radar, was once pulled over for speeding, caught in a radar trap! He later wrote a playful little rhyme pitying himself as a victim of his own invention.
Think about the picture of sowing and reaping. When you plant a seed, you’re trusting it will grow, and you’re preparing to wait.
- You can’t see the seed start to grow, hidden in the ground.
- You have to wait for the fruit you want to enjoy.
- Eventually it becomes clear what kind of crop was sown.
The first application here is to giving. But it applies to everything we do in serving the Lord: setting up chairs, praying for your neighbor, leading worship, serving behind the scenes, showing hospitality.
- Treating this kind of sharing as worthless is mocking God, belittling His generosity toward those who give to Him and His work.
- The mocking attitude says: “It’s ridiculous to pray for someone, think about their needs, or serve them when they can’t serve you back. That won’t get you anywhere in this dog-eat-dog world.”
Luther warned scoffers that God may postpone His response for a while, but He will find them out in time. You can’t laugh at God.
Hebrews tells us to obey and submit to our leaders, because they keep watch over our souls as those who will give an account. Let them do it with joy and not with groaning, since that would be of no advantage to you (Hebrews 13:17).
How do you not reap? How do you ruin your crop? Sow rebellion. Make your spiritual leaders’ work a burden. Instead, share good things.
Paul asked: if we’ve sown spiritual things among you, is it too much to reap material things from you (1 Corinthians 9:11)?
- The spiritual is more important than the physical.
- Truly spiritual people understand this. Legalistic, outward-focused people don’t.
Paul tells the Corinthians that whoever sows sparingly will reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will reap generously. Each should give what he’s decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under pressure, because God loves a cheerful giver. God is able to provide everything we need, with plenty left over for every good work. He supplies seed to the sower and bread for food, and He’ll multiply our seed and increase the harvest of our generosity. We’ll be enriched in every way so we can be generous in every way, and that generosity produces thanksgiving to God. Those who receive it will glorify God, and pray for the givers with deep affection because of the surpassing grace of God in them. Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift (2 Corinthians 9:6-15)!
- Sharing is one of the best ways to build a deep, overflowing relationship with the people who teach you and with anyone else.
- That’s the kind of relationship and fellowship we’re all longing for.
- Sowing physically reaps spiritual fruit, when it’s done with spiritual faith.
Flesh or Spirit? (Galatians 6:8)
The one who sows to his own flesh will reap corruption from the flesh, but the one who sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life from the Spirit.
There’s an old parable about two dogs fighting inside each of us: a flesh dog and a Spirit dog. Which one wins? The one you feed.
What are you investing in? Someone once joked, “Never invest your money in anything that eats or needs repainting!”
- If you sow to the flesh, the results will be corrupted, mangled and messed up.
- You wanted to accomplish something spiritual, but you tried to do it in the flesh, in your own strength and resources, and the result can’t be anything but failure.
- Human wisdom and techniques have their place, but they can’t produce spiritual life. If it isn’t done in the Spirit, glorifying Jesus and His grace, it won’t produce a good crop. You may get some behavior modification for a while, but the true fruit (or lack of it) can’t be hidden forever.
- Need self-control? Spending too much money, or struggling with pornography? The ultimate solution isn’t a program or a lesson. It’s the Spirit: asking Jesus, and then trusting Him for the victory you need.
Don’t Grow Weary (Galatians 6:9-10)
Let’s not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we don’t give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let’s do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.
- Not being able to see the results of trusting Jesus right away can make us weary.
- Paul says, keep your eyes on the prize.
- Keep on praying.
- Keep on inviting. Keep on forgiving.
- Keep on loving.
- Keep on reading the Word alone, in secret.
- Keep on sowing those good spiritual seeds.
- And “in due season,” we will reap.
Those who sow in tears will reap with shouts of joy. The one who goes out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him (Psalm 126:5-6).
I know it can be hard to trust the Lord. Sometimes it feels like stepping off a ledge into thin air. Volunteering to be crushed for Jesus’ sake. That’s why it’s called faith. You act in obedience, and then you wait. Repeat as needed.
For Christians who are always in a hurry, the nineteenth-century preacher A. B. Simpson offered this wise word: “Beloved, have you ever thought that someday you will not have anything to try you, or anyone to vex you again? There will be no opportunity in heaven to learn or to show the spirit of patience, forbearance, and longsuffering. If you are to practice these things, it must be now.”
Every day gives us countless opportunities to learn patience. Let’s not waste them.
Grace Takeaway
Every seed you sow matters, on earth and in heaven. Sowing to the flesh, even with good intentions, only reaps corruption. But when you trust Jesus and sow to the Spirit, by giving, praying, forgiving and loving, the harvest is eternal life. Don’t grow weary. The seed is in the ground, and in due season you will reap.
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